Tank birthday, 47+ years

Clarksski · Jun 19, 2016

The proof is in the pudding!! Or in this case... Your long running aquarium/ecosystem. I think what scares a lot of people from doing what you do, here on the coasts of the contiguous 48, is the pollution of the waterways.
As far as the clams, here on the west coast, we pretty much just have littlenecks. About the size of a quarter. I'll pick some up tomorrow and throw some in the freezer.
One more question on your collecting. If you have a reef tank, how do you throw in these creatures and mud from the New York Atlantic?
I've read about people collecting from like waters, say in Florida or Australia or Hawaii.. But not what your doing..
Any thoughts?

Rybren · Jun 19, 2016

Paul, my heart goes out to Mrs B and you. It is a tough time. My mother-in-law passed away three weeks ago at 92.

She had very advanced dementia and had no idea who anyone was anymore and didn't know that Suzie had passed away. In her case, I think that her passing was a blessing.

Paul B · Jun 19, 2016

Heidi, I collect a handful of mud, and squirt it in my tank with a baster. Nothing to it. As far as the amphipods, I just throw them in.

Rybren, you had worse problems than I do now. My Mother N Law is 90 and very senile. My Mom passed at 99 with the same condition.

Rybren · Jun 19, 2016

Senility is such a strange condition. It would be wonderful if they could figure out what causes it.

I attended a wedding this weekend and spent a lot of time talking to my 95 year old aunt. She still has all of her wits about her and is as sharp as a tack. She still plays euchre in her club once a week. I wonder why some people are immune?

Wait a minute. I just figured it out. She is Italian and eats clams a lot :)

Rybren · Jun 19, 2016

Senility is such a strange condition. It would be wonderful if they could figure out what causes it.

I attended a wedding this weekend and spent a lot of time talking to my 95 year old aunt. She still has all of her wits about her and is as sharp as a tack. She still plays euchre in her club once a week. I wonder why some people are immune?

Wait a minute. I just figured it out. She is Italian and eats clams a lot :)

Paul B · Jun 20, 2016

I eat fresh seafood about 3 or 4 times a week, but I live on Long Island and I can't swing a dead catfish without hitting 4 or 5 seafood restaurants. I can also fish, catch crabs or clams. I don't think I ever ordered a steak in my life, but if you put one in front of me, I will eat it (and like it) :p
I also try to keep my mind busy and am quite good at it. Most of what I think about is nonsense, but I am still thinking.
Heidi, here is a video of those amphipods I collect. I strain out most of the scurvy water and dump these in my tank. I also take the mud from where I collect these.

Paul B · Jun 21, 2016

I changed one of my seawater circulating pumps this morning. Now it is nice and quiet again. This of course is the engine with the pump removed. It covers those two holes in the block.
Now I can get on with some collecting again.

Paul B · Jun 28, 2016

Today I finally got a chance to take care of my tank. I cleaned the glass and immediately noticed one of my newer gorgonians fell on top of a large mushroom and most of the gorg croaked. That is not a big deal as it happens all the time. Gorgonians are tall and top heavy so if you don't glue them (and your fish don't like the place you put them) they fall down.
I am sure my fireclown picked it up and toppled it. That is a big problem with spawning fish or fish in excellent health, they think they are the boss of you and feel their way of aquascaping is better.

I reached in to move that gorgonian and he bit me, causing me to pull back my hand breaking off a large piece of montipora. This also happens all the time and I was going to break that piece off anyway because it was growing to close to the front glass. So I glued that piece of monti back and while I was doing that, the other fireclown, who must have seen my pain when her mate bit me, also bit me also causing me to pull away breaking off a piece of slimmer coral. Now I got smart. It takes me a while. I removed the broken piece of slimmer with a "grabber" while both fireclowns were scowling at me. Then I glued it back on the other side of the tank. A place where the clowns never visit and probably have never seen. I then decided to give up on maintenance for a while.

I glued back the monti just below the bottle neck and a piece of the SPS near the top a little to the left. (Those monti's always break)

Paul B · Jul 4, 2016

This morning I helped my Sicilian neighbor, (who was born in Sicily) to put up his 20' flagpole and put the American Flag on it.
Many Americans don't even have a flagpole so I am truly honored to have such good American neighbors. :D

RedoubtReef · Jul 4, 2016

glad to see this tank is still around. used to read your thread over on RF years ago.

Paul B · Jul 5, 2016

It's still here. Nice to "see" you Chichas. :D

Agamerce · Jul 5, 2016

Paul B said:
I will probably go collecting on this beautiful Father's day after we visit my Mother N Law who is near the end of her life and in a nursing home.
My tank has been without fresh mud all winter and I think it needs a new infusion. I will also collect amphipods, worms, mussels, snails and anything else that looks muddy, dirty or full of life. I realize many people cringe at the thought of putting that type of stuff in their tank, but the majority of those sterile tanks have fish with a very weak, or missing immune system which is the reason for all the disease and getting out of the hobby threads. It is the bacteria, specifically the gut bacteria that keeps our fish (and us) disease free.
The "inside the box" thinking is to try to keep fish away from disease. My thinking is to encourage these bacteria and parasites to live in my tank so the fishes immune system can recognize them and destroy, or at least ignore these things. I don't think most aquarists will ever fully grasp this theory so we will keep having disease threads suck as :My fish have ich, what can I do"? We all know that is the most posted question and IMO there is no need for it.
Soon I will be gone and I fear that this theory will also diminish leaving all those fish prone to un necessary diseases.
Just my opinion of course.

What method, or how to, for a newbie 2 months in on my first SW tank? That makes perfect sense BTW.

Paul B · Jul 5, 2016

Agamerce, I don't think I would recommend this on a 2 month old tank. I started my tank like that but at that time, there were no other ways. I would let that tank age for a while as it is not even cycled yet no matter what your test kits read. But in the mean time I would feed foods with live bacteria in them such as live blackworms if you could get them and clams.
I wrote many articles on this site. http://www.saltwatersmarts.com/gearing-up-was-no-minor-challenge-for-marine-aquarium-forebears-5859/
which you may find helpful.
Where are you located?

Agamerce · Jul 5, 2016

Okay thanks, Paul! I hope you don't mind if I frequent your threads and post. [emoji3]

By the looks of it I have a strong start. My fire shrimp molted yesterday and I though he was murdered [emoji3]

Thanks for the info[emoji106]